ABSTRACT
Russia’s legal approach to Indigenous territorial rights differs significantly from that of other Arctic states. Key Russian laws acknowledge the importance of territorial rights to the cultural and physical survival of Indigenous northerners, focusing on the vulnerability and need for protection of their traditional activities and life ways, while not recognizing inherent Indigenous title to/ownership of ancestral lands. Thus, early laws focused on the protection of lands necessary to the traditional activities and on granting Indigenous peoples use rights, free-of-charge and in perpetuity, to these lands. However, since the turn of the millennium, legal protection of Indigenous territorial rights has eroded in favour of removing impediments to the extractive activities on which Russia’s economy depends, and introducing rents and in cases competitive bidding for lands for traditional activities. Moreover, federal laws conflict with each other on these matters. In this chapter, we review the evolving federal legislation on/affecting Indigenous territorial rights, focusing especially on the past 15 years. We conclude with observations on what is needed to improve the situation of Indigenous territorial rights in the Russian North.
